” “"Founder of the Taizé Community in 1940, Frère Roger devoted his life to reconciling the peoples of God in the European continent". On behalf of COMECE (The Commission of the Bishops’ Conference of the European Community), the Secretary General Monsignor Noël Treanor, "saddened and and filled with indignation for the premature death" of the historic animator of ecumenism in the Old Continent, remembered him for his "commitment over a span of sixty years to strengthen understanding, forgiveness and unity between christian Churches in Europe". Treanor underlined the efforts carried out by Roger Schutz-Marsauche to bring peace between France and Germany after the second world war and bring closer "Western Europe to Eastern Europe after the fall of the iron curtain". The Secretary General of COMECE therefore paused on the "affinity" of Frère Roger with young people, "confirmed by the thousands of visits to the Taizé Community by the large meetings promoted on the occasion of the vigil for the new year". Treanor said that certainly his figure will be also be remembered in Cologne, where hundreds of thousands of young people are taking part in the WYD. "Frère Roger concluded Treanor contributed towards the fall of barriers between the peoples of Europe. What he has done is extraordinary. However, there is still a great deal to be done before Europeans will be united in their hearts and in their minds. Continuing his work will bear the most effective witness to the exceptional and exemplary life of Frère Roger". An emotional remembrance of Frère Roger also arrived from the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, René van der Linden, who defined him as being "a man of peace", "tirelessly committed to a church which, in the heart of humanity, may be the land of reconciliation, sharing and simplicity".
